Sunday, 31st March, 2024
Beautiful morning. All the windows and doors are open to the sunshine. Fresh, coastal air is gently wafting through the house. My Housekeeper is taking washing to dry outside and preparing to slow roast a leg of lamb for Dinner. All is well with the world. Well, let’s not get carried away. Nearly All. Still some things to address.
We’ve reached a surprising 19C/66F this afternoon but looking at the weather forecast for the coming week, it is hard to get motivated for gardening. So much rain forecast to come and not terribly warm. At least I can start seeds off in the cold frame and hope things improve. This year I’m going to grow French Beans because it is the vegetable I eat most of. We get through 3 large packs a week but they have travelled thousands of miles from Kenya and Senegal. Mine will travel 25 metres from garden to kitchen and they taste so much more succulent because of that. Hopefully, by the time they are ready for planting out, the rain will have stopped.
Just 15 years ago this week, we were in the final throes of negotiating our way out of work, pay off our mortgage and preparing to leave for our Greek home. The ferries were booked and the thought of a garden full of olive trees and flowers was so appealing.
Within 4 days it was all over and (in one bound) we were free. I remember the climax and anti-climax of that time. Although we can look back on it with amusement now, it didn’t feel like it at the time. From certainty to uncertainty with one bound. We flew Olympic Airways from Manchester for the last time. Haven’t flown from Manchester since and certainly not Olympic which went out of business not so long afterwards.
Just as work has gone, the airline has gone, The old Athens airport has gone, the houses are gone, that life has gone too. Even the newspapers have largely gone.
One of the first things I did on the Sunday morning in Athens was to walk up to Syndagma (Parliament) Square to buy newspapers – The Observer and the Sunday Times which were flown in from London each day. I am brought up short by that memory. Haven’t bought a physical newspaper for so many years and I’ve got the clean hands to prove it.
Monday, 1st April, 2024
Happy new month to all Readers. April is an optimistic month and the sun outside this morning is wonderful. Warm weather, rain to come; must be growing weather very soon.
Even so, the time continuum is unstoppable so I must wish my friend, Christine, happy birthday. Always nice to know she is older than me and on such an auspicious day as well. She told me this morning that one of her daughters was 40 last week. As some of us know, that’s nothing is it Dear Reader?
It is funny how so many of us remember fondly our College days and much more fondly than our subsequent university experiences. Many have gone on to complete Degrees, Masters and Doctorates but I suppose, the former were a significant part of our formative years and we went on to Universities in a relatively more mature state.
I look at these two old men and still see the boys in them. It is only 55 years ago that we met. Here they are sitting in 22C/70F of sunshine yesterday in Elgin on the northern tip of Scotland enjoying their retirements.
Quite pleased I didn’t rush in to buying compost from my local garden centre. I need quite a lot to refresh the raised beds and refill the pots around the garden. Suddenly saw an advert for Wickes packs of compost that contain trace elements to promote growth and at almost half the garden centre price. I have ordered 1000 ltrs for £100.00 to be delivered for ‘free’ tomorrow rather than have to go out and make a number of trips bringing it home myself.
Unfortunately, we’ve still got quite a bit of rain forecast for the coming week. Ironically, might have to retreat to Wales at this rate. Anyway, we have to believe that things are getting better slowly.
Outside Sainsburys this morning, a young homeless man was sitting with his dog. Pauline bought him some Easter cakes and some treats for the dog. As we paid at the self service till, Sainsburys offered us comprehensive pet insurance.
Tuesday, 2nd April, 2024
Another nice morning. I’m at home today expecting a large delivery of garden supplies. It is a typically self indulgent thing. As I plan my day in my newish 4-bedroom home with a Utility, an Office, a Garden and a Gym, with a newish car parked outside and delightful neighbours surrounding me, I focussed on the latest Tory Government’s obscenity: a Bill to criminalise Homelessness.
A century ago, George Bernard Shaw and G.K. Chesterton considered it a central and a great evil and how we respond to poverty as a measure of the success or failure of our humanity.
During the pandemic, in an attempt to avoid nice people getting infected, there was a concerted, Governmental mission to get the great unwashed off the streets by providing accommodation – something which had long been advocated by the Left. Behold, it worked. End of the pandemic panic, end of the housing support – Homeless back on the streets. Now, instead of helping them (the carrot), they are going to criminalise them (the stick).
The Bill even says that people on the streets can be arrested if they smell. Can you imagine it? Straight out of the Gym, I would be arrested every day. I walk past so many women who stink of cheap perfume so badly that it takes my breathe away. I would definitely have them arrested.
While I’m writing, I am listening to a podcast from the The News Agents entitled: Is the world running out of babies? The world’s population is in steep decline. To just maintain it, every woman should have 2.1 children and that is not an academic observation. Everything that my Generation expects in their old age – pensions, health care, social care, etc. These things are paid for by the taxes of working people just as ours paid for the generation before us. We are living longer and need caring for longer. All of that needs more not less workers paying taxes.
Now, I’ve had experience of a number of barren women and I can’t see people like them being persuaded to change their lifestyles to start having children never mind how the tax system is altered to incentivise them. And the solution to this socio-economic problem will be …. greater immigration. An influx of people from abroad will be required to do the jobs and pay the taxes providing the resources for Government to pay the Pensions, resource the Health and Social Care plus all the other things we expect.
This is the wonderful irony. Exactly what the Tories say they are against is exactly what they need …. and they know it is which is why they say they want to bring immigration down while presiding over record immigration. It is the only thing which keeps us afloat. Of course, quite a few of those immigrants start off sleeping rough and all of them will eventually require houses. Building houses, which the Tories have also failed to do, is a major requirement. The real test of how bad the Tories are is that so many Tory MPs are revolting … literally and literally.
Wednesday, 3rd April, 2024
Well, I’ve woken up in Wales again. It’s raining … again! Pity really because I want to get on with the garden. Everything I needed was delivered yesterday and is piled outside in the rain. Just have to do extra Gym today.
Fifteen years ago today, I retired. I haven’t worked since although, I have been tempted at times. In the past, workers weren’t expected to get more than 5 years out of their retirement and drawing on their State Pension. Retire at 65 and die at 70. (Three score years and ten).
I retired at 58 and have had a decade more than my allocation already. Although, I am incredibly grateful for that, I intend to have many more years to come. Longevity will help me achieve my goals.
When I arrived at my College digs in September 1969, I was told that I would be sharing with two other lads. Nigel was already there but the third, a lad called John hadn’t yet arrived. When he did, we agreed with the family that I would be called John-1 and he would be called John-2 not only because of my natural superiority but because I got there first.
We started on the same day and we retired on the same day. My good friend, John-2 is celebrating 15 years of retirement too. I wish him many more years of happiness. Of course, he’s a lot older than me.
A girl, a relation of Pauline’s, who is just 62 found she had cancer two years ago. She has been undergoing horrendous treatment but without much effect. She was educated at Bluecoat School in Oldham. She hadn’t even retired and has been deprived of the joy of senior relaxation. Now she is bedridden and in her final days. They can’t even find hospice space for her up in Lancashire. I can’t get all that out of my head. It seems so incredibly unfair. What it does teach me is to go for everything I want and not worry about breaking a few eggs. No regrets. We are a long time dead,
Thursday, 4th April, 2024
Typical April day of sun and showers. Went to Sainsburys this morning where we always do self-checkout having used my smartphone to scan in the items. Today, there were quite a few things on half price to Nectar Card holders so we bought multiples of those to take advantage. At checkout, the bill came to £120.00 which even now seems quite high and we do shop multiple times in multiple places each week but the young couple next to us paid a bill of £220.00! Can you imagine the cost of a young family at the moment?
Because of the incredible run of wet weather this winter, almost all my exercise has been done in the Gym. I don’t mind. I’ve rather enjoyed it but it has meant that I’ve watched a lot of drama while I worked out. Usually, I like a fact or historically based drama. For example, I watched Spooks, an MI6 drama based around actual terrorist scenarios I remember through the past 3 decades.
I’ve been watching Strike Back, a similar Special Operations series which deals with Rhodesia/Zimbabwe independence, the freeing of Kenya from its British Colonial Protectorate and Tanzania as it became a Republic. It is a socio-political process I had to study for my Degree. Both of these dramas are rather macho affairs which are not really my style but I like the context in which they’re set.
These sort of things do not appeal to my wife so other genres are required for joint watching in the evenings. Recently, I’ve found a strange but wonderful comedy drama called The Gentlemen on Netflix. I nearly didn’t get past the first episode but stayed with this wacky/sinister drama about drug cultivation in a stately home. It turned out to be really cleverly written and produced and I’m hoping there will be a second series
To really display the full gamut of taste and decency, we are currently watching together a drama about sex in and out of marriage. It centres on a newly widowed older woman played by Emma Thompson who hires a male escort to experience a sexual experience that her recently deceased husband could never provide.
The whole drama – Good Luck to you Leo Grande – centres on this process and is confined to a hotel room. It is a very uncomfortable and rather sad comedy at times but ends as Emma Thompson’s character has her first ever orgasm and, as a result for the first time, actually appreciates her own naked body. Sometimes, it can be a bit too near the bone but that is good for all of us at times, isn’t it Dear Reader?
Now, I’m going in the Gym to get closer to appreciating my naked body although I think it will take longer than a couple of hours over the next few weeks before that happens.
Friday, 5th April, 2024
Guess how the day’s started. Yes, it’s raining. Actually, it won’t be for long and the next few days will be lovely. My friend, Julie, is a cricket fanatic and is celebrating the first day of the new season in her potting shed because she is expecting a wet day. She sent me a picture of her typically scruffy, allotment grower’s shed. It obviously does the job.
I am still shocked at the Man.Utd. result last night. I still need consoling. Might even move my allegiances to Brighton & Hove Albion.
It’s 9.30 am and the sun is out, the clouds have largely dispersed, it’s gorgeously warm in the garden and I am looking forward to a good few days. Before I use the Gym, it has to be cleaned. I’ve actually offered to help my Housekeeper in doing it. So, after that, I’ve got a couple of hours work out there. Over the weekend we can actually get down to some garden work. We virtually never eat potatoes – maybe 3 or 4 times in as many years – but I am going to grow some.
Pauline loves baby new potatoes and I am going to provide her with them this summer. She has sacrificed herself enough for me.
Just been listening to a podcast of Professor Tim Spector talking about his specialist subject: Dieting and Gut Health. He came to prominence during the pandemic because he launched a successful National Data app whereas the Government’s was late and an utter failure. It was used, initially, to track Covid symptoms and infections across the country, to inform users and the National Health Service of the current position. Spector’s app called ZOE which means LIFE in Greek quickly attracted 5 million users and we reported every morning over Breakfast our current state of health.
Professor Spector is an interesting man. Like me, his father died young of a heart attack. Like me, he compensated for loss by eating and drinking the wrong things and put on weight. Like me, he had his own health crisis – in his case a mini-stroke. Like me, he looked to his fitness and diet as a consequence.
Unlike me, he is a Professor and has become nationally significant in his subsequent work which has branched out into attention to gut health. This is a step too far for me. I eat lots of fruit, vegetables and fish but I can’t bring myself to major on fermented foods as he advises. Have you tried sauerkraut? Don’t make me eat fermented cabbage.
My wife is not shaving very well in the mornings so I’m buying her a new mirror for her bathroom. I’m also buying one for mine as well. The secret of a good marriage is definitely separate bathrooms. Woman are so untidy aren’t they?
Saturday, 6th April, 2024
Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me …. I am 73 today and I am beginning to feel it. Today, I have been allowed TOAST for breakfast. Can you imagine it? Homemade, wholemeal bread toasted. Felt so sinful … well it would do if I was religious.
Hard to conceive of the fact that I was born 73 years ago this morning. My father never forgave me because I was born on the 1st day of the new tax year which cost him a year’s reclaimable tax for a child. My father would be 110 and my mother 101 this year. It is 52 years since I started teaching and 15 years since I retired. The statistics keep coming towards me. At some stage they will roll right over me but not until I have completed my list ….
Today, I will be having not one but two simple carbohydrates. Toast for Breakfast and my chosen Birthday Supper – Linguine. There is something about pasta and seafood that really appeals to me. So, exercise first to earn the privilege of self-indulgence.
This week a decade ago, we were setting off for our 15th and last trip across Europe to our Greek house. It seems so near and yet so far like so many things. Even though it has freed us to do so many more different and interesting things, I mourn its loss. Our first night was spent at a lovely hotel in Rheims. The Hotel de las Paix was delightful.